1. Michael Vick can blame the officials and Giants all he wants, but he really needs to start blaming his offensive line, his coaching staff and himself for the pounding the Eagles quarterback continues to take. Philly’s line in general and both guards are simply not very good, at least in pass protection, giving up five sacks and 20 quarterback hits in just three games. Both totals are among the highest in the league. As for the coaching staff, Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg should, well, have their heads examined after calling back-to-back sneaks at the goal line by Vick yesterday against the Giants, less than a full week after Vick had suffered a concussion. That’s just irresponsible. And then there’s Vick himself: still stubbornly refusing to slide after all these years (and hits). Vick won’t protect himself, yet calls out the NFL for supposedly not doing it for him.

2. A Giants season that was shaping up to be an injury-ravaged disaster is suddenly looking a lot more promising after yesterday’s 29-16 win over the Eagles. It’s always dangerous to look ahead in the NFL, of course, because teams are now so mind-blowingly unpredictable. But with a trip to Arizona followed by home dates with the Seahawks, Bills and Dolphins, one can realistically imagine the Giants 5-2 going into their big Nov. 6 trip to New England. Even more encouraging for Tom Coughlin’s team is that the NFC East now appears wide open in the wake of the Eagles’ not-so-dreamy start and the feeling around the league that the Redskins aren’t legitimate title contenders. The fact that the Giants still have been able to pressure the quarterback — by far this team’s biggest strength – despite all their injuries are what’s driving this encouraging start.

3. Just 10 of Mark Sanchez’s 27 completions yesterday went to his wide receivers, a number that jumps off that page when you inspect the wreckage of the Jets’ 34-24 loss to the Raiders. And six of those 10 completions were to possession guy Derrick Mason for a total of just 45 yards. Plaxico Burress and Santonio Holmes, meanwhile, were practically invisible. If that was merely a strategic ploy by Brian Schottenheimer for this one game (which it might have been, considering how the Jets’ running backs ran wild catching passes out of the backfield), then it’s not a concern. And Sanchez (four sacks) didn’t exactly have a lot of time to survey the field with Nick Mangold out. But if Sanchez still isn’t willing to trust this mostly new cast of receivers, then the Jets could have a big problem – almost as big as their lack of overall speed on defense getting so badly exposed by the fleet-footed Raiders.

4. Good news for the Jets: This season is already shaping up to be a repeat of last year for the Patriots, and not in a good way. As New England showed in yesterday’s come-from-ahead, 34-31 loss to the Bills, it is almost totally reliant on Tom Brady to be perfect to win. Bill Belichick’s alleged defensive genius is nowhere to be found, considering the Patriots woke up this morning with by far the NFL’s worst defense. They rank last in the league in total yardage (468.7 per game), and they’re the only team allowing more than 7.0 yards per play (7.1, to be exact), despite facing the likes of Chad Henne and Ryan Fitzpatrick. The addition of Albert Haynesworth has been a bust, and several years of bad drafting on the defensive side (the exception being Devin McCourty, obviously) have left Belichick with a secondary that just looks clueless. The Patriots might still put together an impressive-looking record in the regular season, but they’re not going anywhere in the playoffs. No team with a defense that bad ever has.